So, you’ve been hearing about using social networking in the
language classroom.You know how to use
Facebook and Twitter, you have a blog, maybe a website, but you are still
uncertain about social networking.

Let’s begin by looking at your students – they are not new
students – but they are changing the way they interact and learn.

Here’s a description of them.

They are students who are
shaped by their environment. The environment they are exposed to is media rich,
immediate, fast, engaging, dynamic and instant. Its electronic and digital, Its
a communication medium with instant gratification. Marc Prensky, described the
array of media the students are exposed to in his papers on Digital Natives .
This is not all of youth today, many still struggle to gain education, to have
a classroom to be taught in or to have seen a computer, let alone used one. Nor
is it limited to just students, Adults too, can be "Digital Natives"
as there brains like the brains of our students will adapt to exposure to
technology.

The opening statement is the one to think about; students
are ‘shaped by their environment’ – and that’s always been true; John Milton
walking ‘the high lawns’ of Cambridge University, was influenced by his peers
and the accepted genres of the day that were open to him to express himself,.

Today’s student is exposed to a dazzling, potentially
enlightening, potentially threatening, very exciting array of media through
which he may interact.

Here’s a thought – so is the teacher – at least he would be
if he went to the places the student goes to – online places, not physical ones
– you can do this stuff at home or in Starbucks, or in the language classroom –
it’s up to you.

The point I want to make, if you haven’t got there yet, is
that we as educators can’t afford to ignore what is happening to the input side
of our students’ lives.

Get with it – go look!There’s no substitute for a bit of personal research.It pays dividends to find out what’s out
there, as they say.And guess what, once
you get to know stuff – speak the lingo – know what a meme is – and the rest,
you’ll be able to talk to your students in the language they are learning;
you’ll be able to share what they are doing – you’ll be able to experience
something of the environment shaping them – it will start shaping you.Give it a try, but be aware of the enormity
of it.Focus on the needs of you and
your learners in your classroom.

Personal Learning Environment (PLE) – a
new learningconcept or a new learning system?

by Zinayida Petrushyna — last
modified Jun 12, 2008 06:25 PM

Although
the Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is a very new term,
(van Harmalen (2006) argues the first recorded use of the term is November 4,
2004) the concept represents the latest step in an alternative approach to
e-learning which can trace its origins to earlier systems such as
Colloquia , the first peer-to-peerlearning system (released
as Learning Landscapes in 2000), and to more recent phenomena such as
the Elgg system released in 2003 . The PLE approach is based on a
learner-centred view of learning and differs fundamentally from the
alternativeLearning Management Systems or
Virtual Learning Environments approach both of which are based on an
institution- or course-centred view of learning. Van Harmelen
describes Personal Learning Environments as “systems that help
learners take control of and manage their own learning. This includes
providing support for learners to

* set their own learning goals

* manage their learning; managing both content and
process

* communicate with others in the process of learning

and thereby achieve learning goals.”

He goes on to say: “a PLE may be composed of one or more
subsystems: As such it may be a desktop application, or composed of one or more
web-based services."

Downes (2006) says “the heart of the concept of the PLE is
that it is a tool that allows a learner (or anyone) to engage in a
distributed environment consisting of a network of people, services
and resources. It is not just Web 2.0, but it is certainly Web 2.0 in the sense
that it is (in the broadest sense possible) a read-write application.”
Important concepts in PLEs include the integration of both formal and
informal learning episodes into a single experience, the use of
social networks that can cross institutional boundaries and the use of
networking protocols (Peer-to-Peer, web services, syndication) to connect a
range of resources and systems within a personally-managed space. The
‘pedagogy’ behind the PLE – if it could be still called that – is that it
offers a portal to the world through which learners can explore and create,
according to their own interests and directions, interacting as they choose,
with their friends and learning community. Seely Brown (1999)
has drawn attention to the social nature of learning:
“Learning becomes as much social as cognitive, as much concrete as
abstract, and becomes intertwined with judgement and exploration.”

The presentation will examine the social impact
of Personal Learning Environments. In so doing, it is difficult
to separate cause and effect. Personal LearningEnvironments can be
expected to have a profound effect on systems for teaching and learning,
on pedagogic approaches to learning and on knowledge development and
sharing. Conversely, the emergence of PLEs and the widespread interest in PLEs
may be seen as a reaction to the changing ways in which people are using
technology for learning, to new societal demands for education and to
changing forms of knowledge usage within society. The presentation will
examine the question of whether Personal Learning Environments
represent a new learningconcept or a new learning system?